Welcome to the Machine
by Erin T. Aardvark
Summary: The Impossibles take on the a giant mechanical monster making mischief in Megatropolis. Try saying that three times fast! Rated T as a precaution
1. Another Week, Another Wreck

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ideas come from the strangest places sometimes. This one comes from a song by Pink Floyd, called "Welcome to the Machine" (hence the title). As always, The Impossibles and Big D belong to Hanna-Barbera. Anyone else you encounter in this fanfic is mine._

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It was just another day in the garage/hangar of the Secret Security Headquarters top mechanic, Michael "Mike" Rogers. He was taking apart an engine from a confiscated villain vehicle when the chief of the agency, Big D, walked in.

"Hiya, boss," Mike said, putting the engine part into a smashed up car. "What's new?"

"I came to see how your latest project was going," Big D said.

"Very slowly," Mike said. "Just when I think I might have a minute to work on it, somethin' comes up, and I gotta hammer out the dents from an agent's mode of transportation."

And, as if that were their cue, the Impossibles entered the facility, though they looked like they had been run over by a monster truck. Multi Man and Fluid Man's hair was disheveled, and their outfits were torn. Coil Man's coils were a bit out of whack, and his left eye was swollen shut. Multi's shield was dented. The strap to Fluey's goggles was broken, and his goggles were resting on his face a bit lopsided, and he was walking with a limp. All three of them were singed, scratched, and bruised. Big D and Mike stared at them as if they had vines sprouting out of their ears.

"Do I even wanna ask what happened?" Mike asked.

"Oh nothing much," Coiley groaned. "Just another run of the mill, high speed car chase."

"And car wreck, I'll bet," Mike sighed. Of all the SSHQ agents, it was the Impossibles who have had the most repairs done to their car. "What happened this time?"

"We were chasing after the crook," Multi explained. "And he unleashed every kind of weapon known to man on us right from his car."

"Yeah, it was a regular Swiss Army car," Fluey replied, rubbing the back of his head. "We only managed to arrest him when he was watching us get clobbered instead of watching where he was going, and he slammed right into a wall."

"I'm almost afraid to ask what the car looks like," Mike said.

"All I can tell you, Mike," Fluey said, "is that the three of us made it out of that mess better than the Impossi-Mobile!"

"Ho boy," Mike said, as he and Big D followed the boys out to the parking garage. There was the Impossi-Mobile, crushed, dented, and nearly burnt to a crisp.

"Holy mother of . . . . ." Mike started when he saw it. "Oh brother, look at this mess!"

"You said you made it out of that better than your car," Big D said. "I'd say _that_ was an understatement."

"Can you fix it, Mike?" Coiley asked.

"I've fixed worse than this," Mike said. "Nothin' you guys ever did, though. Yet. Oh brother, these teenage drivers, I tell you . . . . ."

Mike began grumbling over how teenage drivers were too reckless for their own good as he went to the phone so he could call in the team to get the Impossi-Mobile to his hangar. Big D ordered the boys to the infirmary. In the shape they were in, he didn't want to take chances of any injuries putting them out of commission.

Once the Impossi-Mobile was in Mike's hangar, he took a sledgehammer, and began hammering the car's frame.

"Those crazy kids are gonna be the death of me yet!" he shouted, as he swung the sledgehammer. "First, the Sinister Speck sets the tail end up in flames. Then, the Spinner smashes it into a mountain. Then, the Insidious Inflater puts it on a spin cycle, and busts the Impossi-Generator in here. Then, they go and crash the thing into a lamppost, thanks to the Perilous Paperman. Then, they get the sub torpedoed by the Anxious Angler. Then, the Rascally Ringmaster sends his human cannonball at the jet, crashin' head on with it. Then, they smash the boat into an iceberg. And, of course, who could forget the other incidents? There was the time the Siren pitted them agaisnt each other and they ended up in a fight which caused major damage to the car. And the time that ex-agent reprogrammed that Frankenstein Jr. robot and crushed the car. Then there was the time someone tampered with the brakes, causin' it to crash right over a bridge, and then it exploded. And the time Fluey went and crashed through the roof of the ranger station at Jellystone Park. And the time it went over Dead Man's curve and I had to build it from scratch all over again, and I can't _count_ all the other times this car has been in here due to those high speed chases of theirs! What next?!"

(_AUTHOR'S NOTE: the incidents from the Sinister Speck to the iceberg were actual events in the Impossibles' cartoons. Everything from the Siren to Dead Man's Curve are references to some of my other fanfics_)

It was obvious Mike was not happy about constantly having to make repairs on the Impossi-Mobile. It wasn't that the boys were bad drivers, it was just that sometimes, high speed chases after crooks resulted in some unavoidable wrecks. But it still didn't make Mike happy. Though it _was_ job security. After all, if the agents _didn't_ bust up their transportation every now and again, he'd be out of a job.

As Mike was pounding out "The Anvil Chorus" on the Impossi-Mobile with his sledgehammer, a small pellet fell from a vent, and hit the floor. Mike was too engrossed in working on the car to notice, until the pellet released some sort of vapor, which filled the room.

"What the heck?" Mike asked. Then, he began coughing as the vapor grew thicker.

"Hey!" he shouted. "What's goin' on here?!"

Finally, Mike fell to the floor, unconscious. Once he was out like a light, the vent opened, and a man wearing a gas mask jumped into the hangar, and began taking apart various vehicles, collecting the parts.

"These will be perfect," he said, loading as many spare parts as he could into a large bag. "Only a few more items to go, and I'll have enough parts to build the ultimate machine!"

The man laughed hysterically, and then made his escape through the vent, with the stolen car parts in tow.


	2. The Maniacal Mechanic

The mysterious figure left the SSHQ garage, dumped his spare parts into his Jeep, and drove off. He stopped out in the middle of nowhere, at a deserted gas station. The man climbed out of his Jeep, and took the stolen parts into the auto shop, where there was a tarp covering something gigantic.

"Now let's see," he said, checking his list. "I've got the car parts, and all the weapons I need, as well as the bullet proof, fire proof, rust proof, crush proof, dent proof titanium steel alloy. Now all I have to do is get the computer parts, and install them, and then this thing will be ready to roll!"

The man laughed, and he started pulled a lever. A platform raised to the top of the gigantic something under the tarp, and he quickly got to work putting in the stolen car parts.

The next day, the Impossibles were rehearsing in the SSHQ cafeteria. They were unable to take any out of town gigs, or any out of town cases, until Mike fixed the Impossi-Mobile. The boys found it a little odd that he seemed to be taking longer with it this time than he had before. After their rehearsal, they went down to the garage to see how he was coming along.

"Hey Mike!" Coiley called when he walked in. "We just came by to see . . . . ."

Coiley didn't finish that sentence. The minute the boys walked into the garage, they saw their car, still bashed and battered, and the garage was a mess.

"Holy stick shift!" Coiley shouted. "What in the world happened?!"

"And where's Mike?" Fluey asked.

"Over here, fellas!" Multi called. "Looks like someone broke in and knocked him out."

"I'll go get Dr. Phelps!" Fluey shouted, and he raced out of the garage to get the SSHQ's chief medical officer, Dr. Isaac Phelps.

"I'd better call the chief," Coiley said, and he activated the TV screen in his guitar.

"Good idea," Multi said. "If someone broke in, the chief'll want to know about it."

Within minutes, Big D, Dr. Phelps, and a group of the SSHQ security team was down in the garage. Dr. Phelps was inspecting Mike, making sure he hadn't suffered from any head injuries.

"Good news," he said, taking some smelling salts out of his bag. "He wasn't knocked out by a blow to the head. My guess is whoever knocked him out did it with knockout gas."

"Hey, look at this," Multi said, picking up something off the floor. "Looks like a medicine capsule."

"Gee, I didn't realize Mike was a pill popper," Fluey said.

"He isn't," Big D said. "At least as far as I know."

Dr. Phelps waved the smelling salts under Mike's nose. Mike coughed, and slowly came to.

"Oooh boy . . . ." he groaned.

"You okay, Mike?" Coiley asked.

"What happened, Rogers?" Big D asked.

"I don't know, exactly," Mike replied, holding his hand to his head. "All I remember was that I was bangin' out the dents in the Impossi-Mobile, and suddenly, this weird gas filled the room, and WHAM! I'm on the floor."

"We think someone broke in," Multi said. "But we have no idea what they were after."

"Hey, Mike!" one of the security people shouted. "Some of your spare parts are missing!"

"I think we found out what they were after," Multi said. "But who would steal car parts?"

"Beats me," Fluey said, shrugging.

After that, Mike went back to work on his repairs to the Impossi-Mobile.

Two days later, the Impossibles were out cruising once Mike had the car finished. Coiley had put the Impossi-Mobile on auto-pilot so they could get some rehearsal time in while they drove around. As they were playing, Coiley's guitar began beeping.

"Looks like the chief has a new assignment for us," he said. "Come in, Big D."

"The Science and Technology Foundation has just been broken into," Big D said. "The culprit is known as the Maniacal Mechanic. You know what to do."

"Right, chief!" the Impossibles shouted in unison. Coiley quickly converted to Impossi-Jet, which also converted the singing Impossibles to the superhero Impossibles.

"Rally ho!" they shouted, as they flew toward the Science and Technology Foundation (or SciTech for short).

SciTech was known for having various formulas and inventions, including computer chips capable of programming just about anything. The boys had just reached the building with the Maniacal Mechanic raced out of it.

"There he is!" Coiley said.

"How much you guys wanna bet he's the joker who busted into Mike's garage the other day?" Fluey asked.

"Let's get him," Multi said.

"Rally ho!" the boys called out. That got the Maniacal Mechanic's attention.

"Oh wonderful," he said, sarcastically. "Those interloping Impossibles. I had a feeling those troublesome teenagers would be on my trail sooner or later. Better get outta here with my stuff."

"Better give up first, Mechanic," Multi said. "We've got you outnumbered."

"Yeah, three hundred to one!" Fluey shouted.

"Rally ho!" Multi shouted, and multiplied, surrounding the Maniacal Mechanic.

"Not for long," the Mechanic said, and he took out a gun, firing at Multi's duplicates. Once he was sure he got them all, he ran off.

"They'll never learn, will they?" the original Multi asked.

"I'll get him!" Coiley shouted. Then he sprang forward, reaching out for the Maniacal Mechanic.

"Rally ho!" he shouted.

"Why don't you go bother someone else?" the Maniacal Mechanic asked, as he ducked as low as he could to the ground. Coiley missed him, and ended up slamming right into a tree. He wasn't hurt, just a bit stunned.

"Rally ho-ho!" Fluey shouted, partially converting to liquid and blasting forward, fist outstretched.

"Oh brother," the Maniacal Mechanic groaned. "Another delay."

Fluey charged forward, and the Maniacal Mechanic decided to take advantage of the fact that he was only partially converted. He swung his bag of ill-gotten gains around, and whacked Fluey right in the face with it. The force of the hit sent the dark-haired Impossible flying backwards.

"Whoa!" he shouted.

"That should take care of them for the time being," the Mechanic said. "_Now_ maybe I can get some work done!"

The Mechanic laughed maniacally, ran to his Jeep, and drove off, leaving the Impossibles choking on his dust.

"Rats, he got away!" Fluey shouted.

"What would he want with computer chips, anyway?" Coiley asked.

"Maybe we should check back at headquarters," Multi said. "Big D might have some files on this character."

Coiley and Fluey agreed, and the trio began heading back to Megatropolis.

Meanwhile, in that abandoned garage outside of town, the Maniacal Mechanic was putting the computer parts into his project.

"At last!" he shouted. "It's finally complete! The ultimate weapon!"

The Maniacal Mechanic pulled away the tarp, revealing an enormous robot. It was a two thousand, five hundred foot tall silver four legged beast (fully upright, it would make it five thousand feet tall). It looked like a cross between a Triceratops and an armadillo. It's feet had long claws on it.

"A work of genius, if I do say so myself," the Maniacal Mechanic said. "Now, let's fire up this bad boy and hit a few banks!"

The Maniacal Mechanic cackled madly as he pulled a lever. The floor he was standing on raised into the air, like an elevator, taking him up to a door in his monster's belly. He entered his mechanical marvel, and looked around. The belly looked like some sort of space center with lights blinking on and off, computers running data, and making bleeping noises, and other technical doodads here and there. It would take a genius to figure out this intricate layout!

The Maniacal Mechanic went directly to the head of his mechanized monster, where the main controls were. He sat down in the pilot's seat, flipped a couple of switches, and pushed a couple of buttons. Within moments, the mechanical monster came to life, and started lumbering out of the Maniacal Mechanic's garage, and out toward the city.

"Ohhhh yeah," the Maniacal Mechanic said. "Let them try and stop me now!"


	3. Robot on the Rampage

The Impossibles were driving toward the SSHQ to check to see if there was any info on the Maniacal Mechanic when the ground suddenly began shaking, and they heard rumbling in the distance.

"A little odd for an earthquake and a thunderstorm at the same time, isn't it?" Coiley asked.

"I d-d-d-don't th-th-th-think it's an earthquake, Coiley!" Fluey stammered, sounding nervous. Coiley and Multi turned to look in the direction their comrade was looking in, and then, they saw it.

"Galloping Godzilla!" Coiley yelled. "What in the world _is_ that thing?!"

"Some kind of mechanical monster," Multi speculated.

"Punch it, Coiley!" Fluey screamed.

Coiley slammed on the gas pedal and drove out of the mechanical beast's path just in time, as the monster's foot came crashing down in the place the Impossi-Mobile had been seconds before.

"Smashing stereos!" Multi exclaimed. "That was _too_ close!"

Fluey then got out of the car, and went to the giant foot print the creature had made.

"Holy Mesopotamia!" he yelled.

"What's the matter, Fluey?" Multi asked, as he and Coiley came over to the footprint. They found out right away what the matter was.

"This footprint has to be at least a foot deep!" Coiley shouted.

"Uh oh," Multi said, glancing at the other footprints. "Looks like that thing's heading straight for Megatropolis. We'd better get going."

"Heavy, man," Fluey said.

"Rally ho, and away we go!" the boys shouted in unison and raced for the Impossi-Mobile. Coiley converted to Impossi-Jet, and took off.

Unfortunately, the boys weren't able to beat the machine back to the city. There was a lot of panicking as the mechanical monster crushed cars and trucks as if they were aluminum cans. There was much screaming going on as well. The Maniacal Mechanic was loving every minute of it. He drove his mechanical monster to the First National bank, and used it's feet and claws to rip the roof off completely. Then the monster reached in, and pried the door to the vault off the wall. Then, it crouched down, and opened it's mouth. A lot of people at the bank began running around in a panic, yelling and screaming, thinking the mechanical monster was going to swallow them. Instead, a large hose came out of the monster's mouth, and began sucking up the money in the vault. Then, the monster left. It went through the city breaking into buildings, and stealing valuables, and generally causing chaos. The beast opened it's mouth again, and this time, a flame thrower appeared, firing in every direction imaginable. The fire department certainly had their hands full!

"Crashing catastrophes!" Coiley shouted, as he flew the Impossi-Jet into the chaos.

"Look out!" Multi shouted. Coiley swerved, and dodged an oncoming flame just in the nick of time.

"This is just what we need," Fluey groaned. "The car damaged right after Mike fixed it for us."

"How are we going to stop this thing?" Multi asked.

"Think you can take it out by yourself, Fluey?" Coiley asked.

"Are you kidding?" Fluey said. "I'll have that bucket of bolts rusted up before you can say surf's up! Rally ho-ho!"

Fluey converted to liquid and shot out of the Impossi-Jet, straight upward. He morphed into a storm cloud, and gave the beast a thorough soaking, via torrential downpour, but, unfortunately, it didn't rust. When the storm didn't work the way he had hoped, he went over to a nearby rooftop, and converted back into solid.

"Hmm," he said, thoughtfully. "Better give it some more power. Rally ho-ho!"

Fluey tried again, splashing into the beast head on, a little harder than he had before. The Maniacal Mechanic just laughed.

"I wonder if I should tell him?" he said, enjoying this.

"Okay, no more Mr. Nice Guy!" Fluey shouted. "They say third time's the charm. Time to give it all I got. Ready or not, big fella, here I come! Rally ho-ho!"

Fluey then went into a tidal wave, and completely soaked the darn thing, but not even that did it! Fluey morphed back into solid, and looked at the mechanical monster.

"What?!" he shouted, once he saw that the machine, though completely drenched, was still free of any rust! "But . . . . but . . . . how could . . . . ."

"A rust proof titanium steel alloy, stupid!" the Maniacal Mechanic called out, using a microphone from his console. "No matter how many times you try and soak it, it simply will not rust!"

"Oh brother!" Fluey groaned. "The Maniacal Mechanic!"

"I'll spring a little surprise on him," Coiley said, jumping out of the Impossi-Mobile, and flying toward the giant mechanized mischief maker, fist outstretched. But the minute Coiley's fist made contact with the creature, he was sort of smushed into it. He fell to the ground, his hand throbbing in pain.

"Yeeeeoowwwwch!" he yelled.

"Have I mentioned this particular titanium steel alloy I've stolen is about a hundred times thicker than normal steel?" the Maniacal Mechanic laughed. "Well, Multi Man, aren't you going to try to get me?"

"Darn right I am!" Multi shouted. "Rally ho!"

Multi then duplicated himself, using a trick he had once used on a giant fly the Spinner had sicced on him once. He used his duplicates to take the shape of a giant flyswatter then. This time, he and his duplicates (and there were quite a few of them for this one) constructed themselves into a creature similar to the Mechanic's.

"Time to fight fire with fire, Mechanic!" Multi shouted.

"You're going to regret using that phrase, Multi Man," the Mechanic said, pushing a button on his console. His beast's mouth opened, and the flame thrower came out, blasting Multi's duplicates, burning them to a crisp. Luckily, the original Multi was only slightly singed.

"I'd love to stick around and play, children," the Mechanic said. "But I've got places to go and people to terrorize! Ha, ha, ha, ha!"

"We'd better get to HQ PDQ!" Fluey shouted. "Maybe Big D will have an idea how to handle this one, since our powers are useless against that thing."

"Good idea," Coiley said, and he and his teammates jumped into the Impossi-Jet, and took off toward the Secret Security Headquarters.

The Impossibles landed the Impossi-Jet on the landing pad of the SSHQ roof. Then they dashed inside to the chief's outer office, where his secretary, Phyllis Dawson, was sitting, taking phone call after phone call. Multi's puppy, Skittles, was laying on the couch, watching her. She didn't always go with the boys on assignments, and she loved spending time with Phyllis, and adored the attention she got from most of the other agents (she was a big hit at the SSHQ). When she saw the boys come in, she got up, and whimpered. Multi figured Skittles knew there was big trouble, since she didn't give him her usual greeting of charging for him, knocking him to the floor, and smothering him with slurpy smoochies.

"Please hold," Phyllis said, pushing a button on her phone. "Hi, fellas."

"Hi," Coiley said. "We gotta talk to Big D."

"Good, he was just about to send for you to report back here," Phyllis said. Then she pushed a button on her intercom. "Big D, the Impossibles are here. You won't need to contact them after all."

"Good," Big D said. "Send them in."

"I take it you know about that . . . . . _thing_ downtown," Fluey said.

"There's the understatement of the millennium!" Phyllis shouted. "It's all I've _been_ hearing about for the past ten minutes!"

"I believe it," Multi said. "Come on, Skittles. Here, girl!"

Skittles jumped off the couch, and followed her mop-topped master and his friends into the chief's office.

"Hi, boss," Fluey said. "I know you want to talk to us about something, and we need to talk to you about something, and something's telling me the something we want to talk about is the something you want to talk about, right?"

"What?" Big D asked, giving Fluey a confused look after _that_ spiel.

"Sorry," Fluey said, sheepishly.

"To put it in English, chief," Multi said, "If this meeting is about the Maniacal Mechanic and his monster machine, that's what we want to talk to you about."

"You should've seen it, Big D," Coiley said. "We couldn't stop it!"

"I _did_ see it," Big D said.

"Oh boy, here comes the lecture," Fluey said, rolling his eyes. "And maybe the pink slips."

"No," Big D said. "I went through a listing of the robberies that happened during the past couple of weeks, so I know what the Maniacal Mechanic made that . . . . . that overgrown tin can out of. The titanium steel alloy he stole is an experimental type."

"That figures," Coiley said. "So what do we do, Chief?"

"I'm not exactly sure," Big D said. "This is quite a predicament, boys."

Before anyone could say anything else, a loud crash was heard, and the entire building shook, knocking the Impossibles, and Big D off their feet.

"Yipe!" Skittles yipped.

"Wow, what was _that_?!" Fluey shouted.

A shrill scream came from the outer office just then. Immediately, Big D, Skittles, and the boys raced out of the inner office just in time to see the Maniacal Mechanic's metal monster, standing next to the SSHQ building, open it's mouth, revealing some kind of arm with a claw at the end of it. It smashed through the window (and taking part of the wall out along with it), and grabbed Phyllis with it's claw, and began pulling her towards the monster.

"Let's move!" Fluey shouted.

"Rally ho!" the boys cried out in unison, and raced over to the mechanical arm, grabbing onto it, and doing what they could to either keep it from retracting, or getting the claw to let go of Phyllis. Phyllis was pushing against the claw, trying to pull herself out of it.

"Now, boys, who do you think you're fooling?" the Maniacal Mechanic asked. He pushed a button on his console, and the mechanized monster lifted one of it's legs into the building, and swatted all three Impossibles with one swoop with it's metal foot, hurling the three of them into the wall across the room.

CRASH!

"Anybody get the license number of that truck?" Coiley asked, dazedly.

"Now that we've gotten them out of the way," the Maniacal Mechanic said.

"Just one moment, Mechanic!" Big D shouted. "You're not going anywhere!"

"Says you, old man," the Mechanic said, and he maneuvered his machine's foot upward, and brought it down through the floor, which caused the whole building to start shaking, and bits of plaster to fall from the ceiling. Big D was unable to maintain his balance, and he crashed to the floor. Skittles was too scared to go after this monster. She just cowered in the corner and whimpered, not knowing what to do.

"Now then, gorgeous," the Mechanic said, retracting the arm into his machine's mouth. "We've got the peanut gallery out of the way for the time being, so let's get moving before they come to!"

And with that the Maniacal Mechanic cackled madly, and drove his monster around town, continuing to smash things up and break into banks and other places.


	4. Shop Talk

Phyllis looked around at her surroundings. She felt like she was in some kind of sci-fi horror movie, with all the lights and computer blips inside this machine. She didn't know what was worse. The exterior of the mechanical monster, or the technical interior. She knew the Impossibles wouldn't be able to take out something like this easily. As she stood there, looking around, a door opened and in came the Maniacal Mechanic.

"Hiya, baby," he said. "What do you think of my little invention, hmmm?"

"I think you're some kind of a nut," Phyllis said, glaring at him.

"Yeah, well . . . . . to make it in this world, toots, you gotta be a little nuts. Nobody ever said being an evil genius was easy. And I'm gonna be the richest evil genius in the world!"

"Oh brother."

"Now then, gorgeous, how's about a little smooch, hmmm?"

"Where's a tire iron when I need one?"

The Maniacal Mechanic hadn't heard her. He just stood there, with his eyes closed, and puckering up. Phyllis decided to take advantage of that, and she belted him, right in the kisser.

KAPOW!

"I knew that left hook Fluey taught me would come in handy someday," she said.

"Woweee!" the Maniacal Mechanic shouted. "Now _that's_ what I call a kiss!"

"Glad you enjoyed it," Phyllis said, rolling her eyes. "Now, if it's all the same to you, tell me where the exit is so I can get the heck out of this mechanical monster!"

"Sorry, sweetie. No can do. You and me are going places."

"So I've noticed. You know you won't get away with this. The Impossibles will stop you."

"Hah! That's a laugh! They've failed twice already!"

"Never underestimate the Impossibles fella."

The Maniacal Mechanic just laughed, and went back to the cockpit, leaving Phyllis alone in that big, technical jungle of lights and wires and stuff like that there. She couldn't even get out the door the Mechanic came in. The only way to open it was through a code that had to be punched in on the keypad outside the door. Phyllis tried punching buttons on the walls, just to see if that would do anything.

"Invalid password," a computerized voice said. "Access denied."

"Ooohhh!" Phyllis shouted, frustratedly. Then she sighed. "Guess I'll just have to wait for the boys."

Speaking of the boys, the Impossibles were just coming to their senses, after some major headaches. Big D was just standing there, holding Skittles, who was still shaking over seeing that giant mechanical beast. The pup was also whimpering and whining.

"Ooooh, my aching head!" Fluey groaned.

"Are you boys all right?" Big D asked, scratching Skittles behind the ears to calm the frightened puppy.

"I think so, chief," Multi said, standing up, and taking his dog from his boss. Skittles stopped whining a little. Just being held by her red haired master calmed her down, a little, but she was still worried.

"What are we going to do about the Maniacal Mechanic and his mechanized monster, chief?" Coiley asked.

"I'm not sure about that one," Big D said. "Let's head down to Rogers's office workshop. It may take a mechanic to outwit a mechanic."

"Yeah, man, a whole takes one to know one bit," Fluey said.

Big D and the Impossibles left the office (avoiding the hole left there by the Maniacal Mechanic's beast), and went down to Mike's auto shop, where he was putting together something or another. His TV was turned on to the news.

"Rogers, we have a problem," Big D said.

"You and the entire city, chief!" Mike shouted. "Check it out."

"This is Chuck Hunkley reporting for KPUT-TV," the report said. "Live in downtown Megatropolis, where the Megatropolis Massacre is still going on strong. For those of you just tuning in, a giant, mechanical monster has arrived in the city today, and is running amuck, tearing into banks and jewelry stores and robbing them, and destroying everything in it's path. It has also been seen terrorizing the city's populous, but, thank heavens, no casualties have been reported yet. An attempt was made to stop this mechanical monstrosity by the city's resident superheroes, the Impossibles, but, as you can see from this video tape, they were unable to take it out."

The picture on the TV then shifted to footage of the Impossibles fighting the Maniacal Mechanic's monster, and losing.

"Boy, how embarrassing," Multi groaned.

"We're never gonna live this one down," Fluey said.

"Not unless we stop that thing," Coiley said.

"That's why we're down here, Rogers," Big D said. "We thought maybe you could come up with something that would match the Maniacal Mechanic's creation."

"Oh geesh, chief . . . ." Mike said, rubbing the back if his head. "I don't know . . . . . that thing's pretty intense. I don't know if I've got the right stuff."

"You could take apart the Impossi-Mobile for parts," Fluey said.

"After all the hours I put into that thing?!" Mike shouted. "What are you, some kinda kook?!"

"Just a thought," Fluey shrugged.

"I'm just gonna need some help with it, that's all," Mike said. "I mean, I can only take things apart and put them back together. I don't know anythin' about technical gizmos and stuff like that there."

"Wait a sec, didn't Reggie help build the Impossi-Mobile?" Fluey asked, naming the co-head of the science department, Dr. Reginald Johnson.

"Yeah, he developed the conversion mechanisms," Mike said.

"I'll go get him!" Multi shouted, and he raced out of the garage to the stairs, using his duplicates to propel himself to the seventh floor (where the science lab was). Since the monster machine's attack on the building, the elevators were out of service.

"Reggie, we need you down in auto shop," he said once he arrived. "We're trying to build something that will match the Maniacal Mechanic's monster, and Mike needs your help."

"No problem," Reggie said. "Though I wish the elevators were in working order. You know Mike's auto shop is in the sub-basement!"

Multi shrugged, and he and Reggie went down to Mike's workshop.

"What's our first move?" Coiley asked when Multi returned with Reggie.

"Our first move is to get as many parts as we can," Mike said. "I've always wanted to get my mitts on the Devilish Dragster's Super Charged Road Rocket! Ha, ha, ha!"

Even though the Devilish Dragster had been sentenced to a jail cell with his car when he was first arrested (a tank full of gas, and no road ahead), the SSHQ confiscated his vehicle when he was moved from State Prison to Alkaseltzer Penitentiary. His Super Charged Road Rocket (along with the Spinner's helicopter, the Burrower's underground tunneler, the Sinister Speck's car, Fero the Fiendish Fiddler's rocket chariot, and the Scheming Spraysol's jet pack) were transferred to Mike's hangar. The sixsome quickly got to work dismantling the villain vehicles. Skittles helped out by fetching tools and bringing them to whoever needed them (using her super speed, of course). She liked to be involved.

"This is gonna take forever," Mike sighed.

"Maybe we should try to take out the Maniacal Mechanic's robot again," Fluey said. "Or at least distract it from doing any more destruction."

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Coiley said. "That thing's dangerous."

"Well, we can't let it rampage!" Fluey argued.

"We know, Fluey, but that thing could squash us like bugs!" Multi shouted. "We'd wear ourselves out just as that thing would get warmed up!"

"Chief?" Fluey said, hopefully.

"Absolutely not," Big replied, shaking his head. "I can't afford to let the three of you attempt something like that."

"But that thing's gonna destroy the whole city if we at least don't _try _to . . . . ." Fluey started.

"No."

"But Big D, what about Phyllis? You know that crackpot's holding her captive in that thing!"

"I'm aware of it, but she can handle herself for the time being."

"Besides, Fluey," Coiley said. "You taught Phyllis that left hook, _and_ she knows karate and basic self defense."

"And you know how she gets when someone gets fresh with her," Multi said. "You know how some criminal types are. They go and capture a pretty girl for their own amusement, not necessarily to use her as bait."

"Yeah, and there's no reason why _any_one would need her as bait," Mike replied.

"I can think of a _pret_ty darn good reason," Fluey said.

"Just 'cause she's the chief's Gal Friday doesn't mean she's suitable bait for him," Mike said.

"Yeah, but there's another reason why she's perfect bait for the chief," Fluey went on.

"Fluid," Big D said, in a warning tone. "May I speak with you alone?"

"All right," Fluey said, grudgingly. He knew what was coming. He followed his superior out of the workshop. Big D waited until he was sure they were out of earshot from the others.

"I have told you _not_ to let on that Phyllis is my daughter," he said. "Do you know how dangerous that could be?"

"Sorry, chief, it just slipped," Fluey said, shrugging. "I just can't believe you're not gonna let us go and try to rescue her."

"Not until we get something built that will match the Maniacal Mechanic's machine."

"But that could take who knows how long, and by the time we get something build, the entire city could be destroyed! And once he's done with Megatropolis, he could try to conquer the world!"

"I realize the urgency of the situation, Fluid, but it's far too dangerous."

"But chief . . . . . not only is she your daughter, but she's also _my_ aunt! I've lost too many people in my family already, and I can't stand the thought of losing another one!"

"Neither can I, Fluid. You know as well as I do your birth father was my son, and I was practically destroyed when he was killed. I can not allow you to go into a situation like this where you would most likely end up killed yourself."

"But chief . . . . ."

"The answer is no. I suggest you go up to my office until you've had a chance to cool off. You're becoming too emotionally involved."

"But . . . . ."

"And that's an order!"

And with that, Big D went back into the hangar. Fluey felt like punching the wall.

"Too emotionally involved," he grumbled. "I don't care what he says. I'm not gonna let this lug nut get away with kidnapping my aunt! Besides, I can take care of myself!"

And with that, Fluey left the facility. He knew Big D would be furious for disobeying his orders, but he didn't care. He usually didn't disobey his superior, but given the circumstances (and the fact that the boy is about as stubborn as a mule), he felt he had no choice. He converted to liquid and blasted off, following the trail of debris left by the mechanical beast.


	5. Cant Buy Me Love

By the time Big D returned to Mike's workshop, there were spare parts all over the place.

"Just in time, Chief," Mike said. "Grab yourself a wrench, and start turnin'."

"Where's Fluey?" Multi asked.

"I sent him up to my office for the present," Big D answered. "He was starting to get a little . . . . . excited, as it were."

"Excited?" Reggie repeated.

"Yes," Big D said. "But not in a good way. I sent him up there to calm down a little."

Reggie nodded, and continued working. Multi and Coiley glanced at each other, and continued trying to figure out how in the world they could build _anything_ to top a two thousand five hundred foot mechanical monster. They knew why Fluey was about ready to fly off the handle, but they had been told not to let too many people in on Big D's little family secret. If too many people found out, it could lead to a potential disaster.

"I'm getting a bad feeling," Coiley said. "You know, Fluey, chief."

"Yes, stubborn and impulsive," Big D replied. "_Too_ impulsive for his own good, if you ask me."

"Right," Multi nodded. "So . . . . you think it was smart to send him up to your office, by himself, chief? I don't mean any disrespect or anything, but . . . . . well, you remember the incident with Don Manikatti? When you ordered Fluey _not_ to go out looking for his birth parents, and he went and did it anyway?"

"Hmmm," Big D said, thoughtfully. "A very good point, Multi. However, I'm certain he won't want another strike against him."

"You're applyin' the Three Strikes, You're Out rule to them?" Mike asked, a little surprised.

"What's so surprising about that?" Big D asked.

"Well, chief, they _are_ your pets," Reggie said. "No offense, guys."

"None taken," Coiley said.

"Even so, they must abide by the same rules every other agent does," Big D said. "And if Fluid disobeys my orders twice more, he's suspended. No exceptions. He's already got one strike against him."

Coiley and Multi again glanced at each other and said nothing. Truthfully, Fluey had disobeyed the chief's orders once before the Manikatti incident, but Big D didn't know about it. It was when Fluey's girlfriend, Danalleah, had been deported to Transylvania. They weren't allowed contact with each other until things got straightened out in court, so they got around it by sending each other letters under assumed names. Coiley and Multi had found out, but they agreed to keep it secret for the time being. They didn't think the letters were any big deal, really.

Meanwhile, the Maniacal Mechanic was still downtown, still on his destructive rampage. He had let Phyllis out of her "room," so she was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, held to it by a strong, leather strap fastened over her chest, and another over her lap. The Mechanic drove his beast to a haberdashery, used the monster's foot to rip open the ceiling, and activated his vacuum to suck up several very expensive suits.

"I've always wondered how I'd look in Armani," he said.

"How long are you going to keep this up?" Phyllis asked.

"Forever if necessary. This is simply too much fun!"

"You have a very strange definition of fun, fella."

The Maniacal Mechanic ignored her, and ripped the roof off a jewelry store with his monster's foot. Then, he activated his vacuum, and sucked up every last piece of jewelry in the display cases.

"How 'bout that, beautiful?" he said. "Betcha no other guy has ever gotten ya these kinda rocks before! I'm gonna keep you in gold and silver and diamonds and rubies and emeralds and sapphires and amethysts for life! I'll make you an evening gown made up entirely of diamonds! I'll make you a whole new wardrobe entirely out of gems and jewels!"

"Oh brother. What are you trying to do? Buy my affection?"

"Is it working?"

"Of course it isn't working!"

"Hmm. Looks like I'm gonna have to try harder."

Phyllis rolled her eyes as the Maniacal Mechanic continued smashing into jewelry stores, sucking up everything in sight with his vacuum. Phyllis was not at all impressed. The Mechanic, however, was not going to give up easily. He drove his beast to a furrier.

"How'd you like some furs, gorgeous?" he asked, using his vacuum to suck up several fur coats. "We got mink, fox, rabbit, lynx, sable, ermine, raccoon . . . . . you name it! All real fur, baby cakes. I can getcha a leopard fur coat, and a tiger fur coat if you want. Maybe even a panda fur coat, too!"

"Oh you monster!" Phyllis screamed. If she could reach him, she'd slug him. She _hated_ the thought of wearing real fur. She _did_ have a lynx fur coat in her closet at her home, but it was made out of faux fur, and not real fur.

"You're barbaric!" she yelled again. "Offering to get me a coat made out of an endangered species! Ooooh! You're sick!"

"Ohhh-kay," the Maniacal Mechanic said, slowly. "Well . . . . how about I get you a Rolls Royce?"

"How about I get you a fat lip?!"

"Okay, forget the Rolls."

Phyllis just groaned and shook her head. The Maniacal Mechanic continued driving his beast downtown, until he came across the most expensive, upscale fashion boutique in town.

"Ah ha, here we go!" he shouted, activating the vacuum. "A couple of dozen designer dresses might change your mind."

"It most certainly will _not_!" Phyllis shouted.

"Okay, okay. I'll throw in matching shoes and handbags to go with them. You drive a hard bargain, pretty lady."

Phyllis let out a disgusted grunt, and rolled her eyes.

"You know, I don't understand you," the Mechanic said, as he cleaned out the boutique. "Most chicks would be all over me by now. Besides, I thought blondes were bubble headed bimbos."

"Not _all_ blondes are like that, buster!" Phyllis shouted. "And not all girls are easily bought!"

"Oh well. I love a challenge, anyway."

Phyllis groaned again. There was no way in the world she'd succumb to this jerk's advances. No matter how hard he tried. No matter what he planned on stealing for her, she was _not_ going to fall for him.

As the Maniacal Mechanic continued his crime spree, and terrorizing the public, Fluey finally caught up to him outside another jewelry store.

"Okay, I've found him," he said. "Now all I gotta do is figure out how to stop him. Easier said than done."

Fluey thought it over, and decided to try to distract the big machine for now. Maybe he could wear out the thing's batteries, or cause it to run out of gas, or whatever that thing was running on (he wasn't so sure he wanted to know).

"Rally ho-ho!" he shouted, and he partially converted to liquid, and blasted off right up to the beast's head, and looked at the Mechanic through the windshield.

"Hey, Grease Monkey Brain!" he taunted. "Your mother wears combat boots!"

"Eh?" the Maniacal Mechanic said. "What kind of superhero says something like _that_?!"

"Betcha can't catch me with this tin turkey!" Fluey shouted.

"Betcha I can!" the Mechanic shouted, even though he figured if one of the Impossibles was around, the other two couldn't be far off.

Fluey converted into liquid and shot away, just as the Maniacal Mechanic went to swat him with the machine's foot.

"I oughta squash you like a roach, you little pest!" the Mechanic shouted.

"Be my guest," Fluey said, and the mechanical menace's foot came crashing down on him, and it definitely _did_ look like he squashed him. But the minute the monster raised his foot, Fluey converted back to solid.

"I never did like squash," he said, converting, and flying off for the moment.

"That kid is impossible," the Mechanic grumbled.

"You're just finding that out now?" Phyllis asked.

"Oh well. It doesn't matter. He can't do anything to me or my machine. And neither can the other two."

That happened to be true, and Fluey knew it.

"Looks like the only way to beat that thing is from the inside," he said. "But how do I get in without him seeing me?"

Fluey looked at the mechanized monster, and pondered his situation. There were no cracks anywhere. This monster was well built, and the only way inside was through the mouth, but the Maniacal Mechanic would see him if he tried to enter that route. Then he noticed the vacuum cleaner hose sucking up money from another bank.

"Ah ha!" he shouted. "That's how I'll get in! Rally ho-ho!"

And with that, Fluey went into a full liquid conversion, and effortlessly slid into the vacuum hose, allowing the suction to carry him into the belly of the beast.


	6. Wrapped Up in His Work

Fluey ended up inside what he suspected to be a storage unit of some kind. In it was everything the Maniacal Mechanic had stolen. Money, jewels, and all.

"Frantic feedback!" he shouted, looking around. "This guy's been busy! This place looks like a high tech pawn shop!"

The next objective was to get out of the storage unit, but he didn't see how he could, unless it was through the vacuum hose, but that would only take him outside the beast, and he needed to stay on the inside. The door blended in very well with the walls, he noticed. Suddenly, one of the walls started to slide open. Fluey quickly converted to liquid, and hid himself behind a stack of stolen gold bars. The Maniacal Mechanic came into the storage unit with a pencil and a clipboard.

"Taking inventory can be such a pain in the neck," he grumbled. "But it has to be done."

As the Maniacal Mechanic began taking inventory, Fluey saw this as his chance to get out of the storage unit undetected. The villain was so engrossed with his inventory, he didn't even notice Fluey slithering across the floor (still in his liquid state, of course), and straight out of the sliding door into a corridor. He slithered down the corridor, just in case the Maniacal Mechanic happened to look back. He rounded a corner, and converted back to solid.

"Okay, I'm out of there," he said. "Now to find Phyllis. My guess is he's still got her in the cockpit. And finding it's gonna be easier said than done!"

Fluey began exploring the corridors of the monster machine. The place was like one giant maze. It sort of reminded him of the mouse maze in the SSHQ science lab.

"Now I know what a lab rat feels like!" he shouted. "I don't know what's worse. The outside of this thing, looking like a frilled lizard on steroids, or the inside of this thing, looking like something out of a bad sci-fi horror flick!"

Fluey sighed, and continued searching.

Meanwhile, back at the SSHQ garage, the group was still working. Instead of one huge robot, however, they were working on five separate cars.

"This is unbelievable," Reggie groaned.

"Tell me again this idea of yours, Mike," Multi said, tightening a bolt. "Because I sure don't get it."

"It's simple, really," Mike said. "I don't have room in here to build anythin' as big as the Maniacal Mechanic's mechanized monster machine."

"Try saying _that_ three times fast," Coiley whispered to his bandmate.

"Anyway, you know how I've always got my little TV on in here while I'm workin', right?" Mike continued.

"Yeah," Coiley said, glancing at Mike's TV, mounted up on the wall.

"Well, sometimes, one of the channels I fix it on runs cartoons in the afternoon," Mike said. "There was just one on about these five vehicles that sorta join together to make up this one gi-normous robot and that thing can _really_ kick butt! I gotta tell you guys, Japanese animation . . . . ."

"Yeah, I see what you're getting at," Multi said, interrupting. "You want to put five separate machines together and then they'll transform into one big robot."

"Exactly," Mike said. "Besides, it'll be easier gettin' them out of the buildin' if we do it this way."

"So who's going to be driving these?" Coiley asked.

"The three of you, me, and Reg," Mike said. "And speakin' of the three of you, you want to get Fluey down here so he can give us a hand, chief?"

"Yeah, I think he's had enough time to cool down," Reggie agreed.

"I'll call him," Coiley said, stretching his arm out, and grabbing his guitar from the Impossi-Mobile. Then he activated the communication mechanism.

"Hey, Fluey, come in," Coiley said. The picture faded in, but it was pretty fuzzy, and there was a lot of static, as well. The picture on Fluey's wrist communicator looked the same.

"Now is not a good time, Coiley," Fluey said.

"What's wrong with the connection?" Coiley asked.

"A lot of interference," Fluey said.

"From what?"

"Listen, Coiley, I can't talk right now. You might blow my cover."

"Where are you, anyway?"

"Inside the Maniacal Mechanic's monster. All his computerized techno junk is messing with the signal of the communicators."

"You're _where_?!"

"Shhhhh! You want him to hear us?"

"Fluey, Big D's gonna _kill_ you when he finds out!"

"Yeah, I know, I know, but I had to do it. Look, I'm gonna try to dismantle this thing from the inside, and that's gonna be easier said than done. We'd better sign off before he gets wise that I'm in here!"

"Fluey, wait a minute!"

But it was too late. Fluey signed out. Once the transmission ended, Coiley groaned, and smacked his hand against his forehead.

"Chief, you were right about Fluey," he said. "He _is_ too impulsive for his own good!"

"What now?" Big D asked. "Wait. Don't tell me, let me guess. He went after that monster machine after I gave him a direct order not to."

"Bingo," Coiley said. Multi, Mike, and Reggie groaned loudly.

"Do you want us to go after him, Chief?" Multi asked.

"No," Big D said. "We have to finish constructing a counter attack first."

"But who's gonna drive the fifth component?" Reggie asked.

"I will, of course," Big D said. "Fluid had better be careful, that's all I've got to say."

"Yeah, he's gonna have to watch his back all right," Coiley said. "He said he was _inside_ that mechanical monster."

"Oh brother!" Mike shouted. "That's like a cat sneakin' into the dog pound!"

"We'd better get working on these pronto!" Reggie shouted.

The others agreed and got right down to business.

Back at the monster machine, Fluey was still trying to figure out which way to go. He only hoped that brief call from Coiley didn't attract the Maniacal Mechanic's attention. However, the Maniacal Mechanic _did_ notice some scrambling during the call.

"Better run a surveillance check," he said, typing in some stuff on his console. Various areas of the large ship appeared in his screen. However, most of the sectors appeared to be empty.

"That's fine . . . . ." he said, switching views. "That's fine . . . . . that's fine . . . . . waaaaaiiiiiiiit a minute!"

The Maniacal Mechanic happened to switch to a shot of one of the sectors in his maze of corridors, where Fluey just happened to be looking around.

"How in the world did he . . . . ." the Mechanic started. "Never mind. I already know the answer, anyway. These Impossibles are just plain im_poss_ible! Oh well. Looks like I've got an uninvited guest. I'll give him a welcome he'll not soon forget!"

The Maniacal Mechanic pushed a couple of buttons on his keyboard. As Fluey was searching a corridor, he heard a door slide open, quickly converted to liquid, and slid away from it, just in case the Maniacal Mechanic was coming out. He didn't hear anything once the door was opened, so, like he did when he snuck out of the storage unit, he slithered into the room, and found it completely empty.

"Well, nothing in here," he said, converting back to solid for the moment. "Though this part of the ship would make for some radical recording. The acoustics here are great!"

Fluey was just about to head out the door, when it suddenly slammed shut on him. The clang echoed all around the empty room. Then, a red light began flashing, and an alarm suddenly went off.

"Holy Mesopotamia!" he shouted. "Something's telling me I'm in trouble!"

Suddenly, panels in the walls opened, and several streams of sticky red tape shot out of them, and began surrounding Fluey. He did a quick conversion and dodged them.

"I've heard of going through a lot of red tape, but this is ridiculous!" he shouted.

Fluey ducked, dodged, and dove out of the way, but soon, whatever was shooting the tape out began shooting faster, much faster than Fluey could move, and to top it off, he was starting to get a little tired. He ended up landing, and converting back to solid, and managed to duck an oncoming piece in front of him. Unfortunately, a panel behind him shot out another piece almost immediately, and Fluey hadn't had time to dodge. It circled around his chest, pinning his arms to his sides. Another piece shot out, and wound itself around his knees, and a third around his ankles. He began struggling, but lost his balance, and crashed to the floor. Faster and faster the tape shot out of these panels, until the dark-haired Impossible was nearly completely mummified (or at least mummified from his mouth down). He tried to convert to liquid to escape, but he was wrapped up so tightly, he could barely move. Fluey continued struggling, trying to activate his powers, but it was no use. As he was struggling, the door opened, and the Maniacal Mechanic walked in. Fluey glared at him.

"All wrapped up in our work, are we?" the Mechanic laughed. "Let me give you a word of advice, Fluid Man. Never try to sneak into a place where there are surveillance cameras in every corner."

Fluey closed his eyes, and groaned, mentally kicking himself for not having thought of that. The Maniacal Mechanic just snickered, and pulled his prisoner up off the floor.

"I know the other two aren't around," he said. "I checked. I don't know what made you think you could take me out single handedly, but I admire your spirit. You got guts, kid. Too bad it just ended up being your downfall."


	7. Cold Shoulder

"ARGH!" Mike screamed as he threw his wrench across the garage in frustration.

"Yipe!" Skittles yipped, and she darted behind Multi's leg, whimpering. The others nearly jumped to the ceiling at Mike's sudden outburst.

"This is drivin' me BANANAS!" he yelled at the top of his voice.

"What's the matter, Mike?" Coiley asked.

"We don't have enough parts!" Mike shouted, kicking the tire of the car he was working on out of frustration. "I've taken apart everything I've got in this garage, and we _still _don't have enough parts to pull this thing off!"

"We may have to throw in the towel, chief," Reggie said.

"As much as I hate to admit it, you might be right about that, Johnson," Big D said.

"If we only had one more vehicle," Mike sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Wait a minute," Multi said. "I know one more vehicle we can take apart for parts."

"Absolutely not!" Mike shouted. "I am sick and tired of puttin' that dang car of yours back together!"

"We either take apart the Impossi-Mobile, or we give up without a fight and let the Maniacal Mechanic destroy the city and then the world along with it," Coiley pointed out.

"Oh all right," Mike grumbled. "Strip it."

And that was all there was to that. The quintet began taking apart the Impossi-Mobile. Or at least Reggie, Big D, and the two Impossibles were taking it apart. Mike had sort of gone into the corner and began whimpering as soon as he gave the order to strip it.

While the fivesome was stripping the Impossi-Mobile, the Maniacal Mechanic decided to call it a day. He had big plans for the evening anyway. He drove his machine away from Megatropolis (or what was left of it), and parked it in the middle of a deserted highway. The machine lowered, tucking it's legs underneath it's chasis, like a dog or a cat laying down. Once it stopped moving the Maniacal Mechanic went to prepare for his evening. But first, he wanted to check on his prisoner. He went to a wall, punched some buttons on the keypad, and an elevator opened, taking him down a couple of levels. Once he got off the elevator, he grabbed a large, heavy winter coat, thick, heavy winter gloves, ski goggles, fur lined boots, and a fur hat. If he had been outside his machine, he would have gotten some very strange looks from people, considering it was summer, but for where he was going, it was perfectly normal attire. He took off one of his gloves, and punched another set of numbers on another keypad, and a door opened. The Maniacal Mechanic was then hit by a blast of cold air. This part of the ship was a sort of refridgeration unit, where he had the temperature set to what felt like ten below, at least to Fluey. The Mechanic had taken him to his refridgeration unit, and locked him in (after unwinding him from the tape, that is). Fluey was sitting in the corner of the room, shivering, and shaking, and his teeth were clacking like castanets. His arms were wrapped around his body, and his knees were pulled up to his chest. He was trying to keep warm. He knew if he converted to liquid, he'd end up frozen solid.

"Well, I can see you've _cooled_ off," the Mechanic said, with a smirk.

"V-v-v-v-very f-f-f-funny!" Fluey shouted, glaring at the Mechanic. "You c-c-c-c-can't k-k-k-keep me in h-h-h-here, you know!"

"And just how do you intend on escaping? The only way to open the door is using the keypad outside. Besides, you'd be a block of ice before you even reached the door if you used those super powers of yours. If you haven't gotten stuck to the wall yet. You know something that's wet will freeze right to cold metal."

Fluey knew that, which was another reason he hadn't gone into a conversion. He once knew a kid at the Megatropolis Children's Home who stuck his tongue to a flagpole in the winter and got stuck there on a bet (it was actually Fluey who made the bet with that kid who got stuck to the flag pole, but that's another story).

"Well, I'd love to stay and chew the ice," the Mechanic said. "But I've got big plans tonight with my other guest. So you just stay here, and . . . . _chill out_."

And with that bad pun, the Maniacal Mechanic howled with laughter, and left the refrigeration unit, using the keypad outside to shut and lock the door. Fluey glared. It was about all he could do. Then he remembered he still had his wrist communicator. He pushed a button on it, and tried to get a signal, but all he got was static.

"Oh no!" he shouted. "Don't do this to me now!"

Fluey wasn't able to get a signal. He figured it was being jammed by the Mechanic's machine.

"Hey!" he heard a voice shout over a loudspeaker. "Turn that watch of yours off! It's scrambling my signals!"

"And what if I don't?!" Fluey shouted.

"Then I'll lower the temperature in there and you'll be an Impossicicle, even with_out_ having to convert to your liquid state!"

Fluey groaned, and turned off his communicator. Anything to avoid getting encased in a block of ice. If that happened, he'd never be able to get out of the mess he was in.

Meanwhile, the Maniacal Mechanic had gotten everything ready for his evening, using a lot of the stuff he'd stolen during the day. He had set up a romantic candle-lit dinner, and programed some romantic music on his stolen hi-fi system. Then he went to another area of his machine, and escorted Phyllis to his little set up. He had her change into a short, sleeveless black dress with black stilletos (evryone at the agency wondered how she was even able to _walk_ in those things), and a pearl necklace, pearl earrings, and a pearl bracelet (all stolen of course). He pulled a chair out for her, and she sat down, rolling her eyes. She had a feeling this was going to turn into one heck of a bad date. The Maniacal Mechanic then pulled a bottle of fine champagne out of an ice bucket, took the foil off the bottle, took the wire caging off, and began trying to pry the cork out of the bottle.

"You're gonna love this, doll face," he said, straining. "This is . . . . . the finest champagne . . . . . money can buy."

"Do you even know how to open that thing?" Phyllis asked.

"Of course . . . . . hrrrrmmmpphhh . . . . . . I do! It's . . . . errrrggghhhhh . . . . . . all in the . . . . . . unnnggghhh . . . . . . wrist!"

Phyllis rolled her eyes as she continued to watch this moron try to uncork the champagne. He gave up pulling on it with his hands, and decided to use his teeth.

"Errrgh, errrgh, errrgh, errrgh!" he grunted as he tugged. "What'd they do? Glue this cork in the bottle?!"

"Here, give me that," Phyllis said, taking the bottle, and she began pushing on the cork with her thumb.

"Oh come on!" the Maniacal Mechanic shouted. "I'm a big, tough, strong man, and you're a gorgeous, delicate, little blossom of a woman. If I can't uncork a bottle of champagne, what makes you think you . . . . ."

Suddenly, there was a loud POP! And the cork began airborn, hitting the Maniacal Mechanic right in the face.

"Ow, my eye!" he shouted, covering his eye with his hand.

"You were saying?" Phyllis responded, almost smugly.

The Maniacal Mechanic said nothing, and he took the champagne bottle and poured it's contents into a couple of glasses.

"I propose a toast," he said. "To me, and my marvelous machine."

"Oh brother," Phyllis said, rolling her eyes. "You and this ship are positively unbelievable."

"Yeah, this ship's got everything," the Mechanic replied. "And just you wait, baby. Conquering Megatropolis was just the beginning! We're gonna conquer the state. Then, the country. Then who knows? Maybe even the world!"

"You're insane. You're absolutely out of your head."

"I prefer to think of it as being a genius. Play your cards right, gorgeous, and you might end up as the lucky lady who ends up as my right hand gal. What do you say to that?"

"How about this?!"

Phyllis then grabbed the bottle of champagne, and cracked it over the Maniacal Mechanic's head. It shattered, and champagne spilled all over him.

"Aaaagggghhh!" he groaned. "Great. There goes my other eye!"

Phyllis immediately jumped up from the table and ran to the open door as fast as she could (and she could run surprisingly well in those stilletos she was wearing). But before she could reach it, the Maniacal Mechanic pushed a button, and the door clanged shut just as she reached it.

"Oooooh rats!" she shouted. The Maniacal Mechanic then grabbed her arm.

"Wrong answer, baby," he said, glaring at her. Phyllis gulped. She had no idea what was in store for her now.

Meanwhile, Big D, the two Impossibles, Mike, and Reggie were hard at work after dismantling the Impossi-Mobile. It took them all night, but at last, the five vehicles were ready.

"Okay," Mike said. "Reggie and I will take the legs, Multi and Coiley, you take the arms, and chief, you take the head."

"How come he gets the head?" Reggie asked.

"'Cause he's the head of the agency, dummy," Mike said. "Let's roll!"

"He gets so cranky when he doesn't get enough sleep," Reggie said, as he walked toward one of the five cars. The others followed. Mike opened the garage door with his remote control garage-door opener, and the cars were off.


	8. Bot Battle

The Maniacal Mechanic awoke at dawn when his alarm clock inside his mechanized monster went off. He turned it off, yawned, and stretched.

"Nothing like a good night's sleep," he said.

The Mechanic typed in something on his console, and the surveillance cameras tuned in on an area of his machine. Phyllis was laying on the floor of this empty room, sleeping, still wearing her little black dress and stilettos from the night before. After she clubbed the Maniacal Mechanic with the champagne bottle, he threw her inside one of the empty units in his machine and locked her in. Phyllis was only thankful he hadn't done anything worse to her, but she knew she wasn't out of the woods with this maniac just yet. The Mechanic typed in another set of keys, and the screen shifted to the refrigeration unit. Fluey hadn't moved from his spot since the Mechanic left him the day before. He was too cold. The Mechanic laughed, and turned on his speaker to the refrigeration unit.

"Good morning, starshine," he said, smugly. "And how did we sleep last night?"

"You're a regular laugh riot!" Fluey shouted back. "How long are you gonna keep me locked in here?"

"What's the matter? Don't you like it in there? Why, I thought you liked to play it cool."

"Leave the bad puns to me, Mechanic! Let me out of here!"

"Oh I will. Eventually. I just figured I'd give you a little taste of what you and your buddies put criminals like me through. A stretch in the cooler! Ha, ha, ha! Oooh, I kill me!"

"Yeah. If only, fella."

The Maniacal Mechanic signed off, laughed, and lowered the temperature in the freezer slightly. Then he started up his machine for another day of terrorizing a city. Since he was through with Megatropolis, he decided to head for the next big city, loaded with banks and jewelry stores, and other stores he could steal expensive merchandise from. Fluey just sat in his polar prison, trying to figure out a way out of this mess. He knew he couldn't use his wrist communicator. The signal wasn't strong enough, and the interference from the monster machine was too heavy.

"Frozen fish sticks," he said. "I gotta find a way out of here before I _become_ a frozen fish stick!"

Fluey sighed, and tried to rub the warmth back into his arms. He began shivering again, and his teeth started chattering all over again.

"N-n-n-now I kn-n-n-now how L-l-l-lucy Ric-c-c-c-cardo felt when she got l-l-l-locked in that m-m-m-meat f-f-f-freezer!" he stammered. "I'll be l-l-l-lucky t-t-t-t-to get outta th-th-th-this m-m-m-mess alive! I j-j-j-just hope Phyllis is okay!"

As the Maniacal Mechanic drove his beast to the next city, who should come along but Coiley, Multi, Big D, Reggie, and Mike, driving their cars?

"There he is," Coiley said, through a microphone on the dashboard. "That was a great idea for tracking him down, Multi."

"Well, it wasn't really so great an idea, Coiley," Multi said through his own microphone. "All we had to do was follow his footprints. And what else would leave foot prints a foot deep, and two feet wide? Besides, how could you miss something like _that_, anyway?"

"Should we transform now, chief?" Coiley asked.

"Rogers, it's your call," Big D said. "You're the one who built these."

"Yeah, we'd better to the transform thing now," Mike said. "We can only access the weapons Reggie and I built into these suckers when we're completely put together in robot form."

"All right men," Big D said. "You know what to do."

"Right!" the four agents shouted, and they all pushed a button on the radios of their cars. This allowed the cars to form a giant robot, five thousand feet tall (and this thing could walk on two legs!) Mike figured that would be an even match with the Maniacal Mechanic's monster. When connected, Coiley, Multi, Mike, and Reggie no longer had control over their vehicles, except for weaponry. The master controls overrode the separate ones.

"We're ready to rock and roll, Big D!" Coiley shouted.

"Excellent," Big D said, "Let's move out!"

Big D started driving the giant robot forward. The Maniacal Mechanic heard it coming, and glanced at it out his windshield.

"What the . . . ." he started. "What in the world is _that_?!"

The giant robot came toward the metal monster, and raised an arm. The "hand" retracted inside the arm, and a bazooka of sorts came out of it.

"Uh oh . . . . ." the Mechanic said, nervously, as the bazooka fired, and a rocket of sorts was hurled toward the metal monster. It hit the ground by its feet, and exploded.

KABOOM!

"Yeeeaaaauuuugggghhh!" the Mechanic yelled as his machine was knocked off its feet, and thrown backward. It landed with a loud CRASH!

"Oooh, that hurt," the Mechanic groaned, rubbing the top of his head. "Okay . . . . . _two_ can play at this game!"

The Maniacal Mechanic pushed a button, and his creature's mouth opened, and a gun of sorts came out of it. He pushed another button, and laser beams began shooting out of it.

"Time for some fancy footwork, chief!" Multi shouted.

Big D got the message right away, and pushed a button. The giant robot jumped high into the air, so high the Maniacal Mechanic lost sight of him.

"What is that thing doing?" he asked. Suddenly, the giant robot came down, and crashed landed right onto the monster machine's back, causing it to crash to the ground on it's stomach.

"Oooh, geez!" the Maniacal Mechanic yelled as he was thrown to the floor from the impact.

"Attention Maniacal Mechanic!" Big D shouted into his microphone. "We have you surrounded! Come out with your hands up!"

In response, the Maniacal Mechanic pushed a button, and something opened up from the machine's back. It looked like a missile launcher.

"Uh oh," Reggie commented. "That doesn't look good."

"Thank goodness we're far enough away from Megatropolis and its surrounding cities," Multi said.

"Brace yourselves, boys," Big D said, reinforcing his seatbelt.

The others did the same, though Skittles whined about it when Multi put her in his lap, and tightened the seatbelt over her, as well as himself. Skittles hated wearing seat belts.

"Take it easy, girl," Multi said. "You'd like it even less if you were flying around in this thing like a mad pinball."

Suddenly, the missiles from the Mechanic's monster machine fired. They exploded all around the SSHQ robot, and exploded on impact.

KABLAM!

The SSHQ robot was knocked off it's feet, and it summersaulted backward a couple of feet before stopping, flat on it's stomach.

"Oooh, now _that_ was what I call rock and roll!" Coiley shouted.

"Everyone okay?" Reggie asked.

"Yeah, we're okay," Multi said, and Skittles barked an affirmation. The others confirmed as well, and Big D got the robot to his feet.

"Speaking of rock and roll, Agent Coil," he said. "Give that hulking brute some of it."

"Aye-aye, chief!" Coiley shouted, and he pushed a couple of buttons on his console.

The robot lifted his arm, and the hand went inside of it, much like on the other arm that hid the bazooka. But instead of a weapon coming out, a flurry of steel balls, shaped like rocks, shot out of it, one right after another, and they were all right on target with the giant mechanical monster. It caused quite a few dents in it.

"So much for this titanium steel alloy being dent proof," the Maniacal Mechanic said as he climbed back into his chair (he had been knocked out of it when the steel rocks hit his beast). But before he could activate his monster again, he suddenly felt himself being lifted into the air. Then, it began to spin around in circles.

"Hey! What the . . . ." the Maniacal Mechanic shouted. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoooaaaaa!"

The SSHQ robot had picked up the monster machine and was spinning it.

"Easy does it, chief," Multi warned. "Fluey and Phyllis are still in there."

"I'm aware of that," Big D said. "This won't hurt the two of them."

"We still have to get them out of there, though," Coiley said. "And we don't even know if he knows Fluey's in there."

"Anybody got a can opener?" Mike asked.

And with that, Big D dropped the giant mechanical monster on the ground. CRASH!

"Okay," the Maniacal Mechanic shouted. "That does it! No more Mr. Nice Guy!"

The Maniacal Mechanic then activated his machine, and began making a break for it. It ran until it was out of sight.

"That's weird," Reggie said.

"You think he's givin' up?" Mike asked.

"Not hardly," Coiley said. "Look!"

The mechanical beast suddenly came into view, charging like a mad bull. Big D tried to operate the controls, but it was too late. The giant monster plowed right into the SSHQ robot, demolishing it. Luckily, Coiley and Multi used their powers to ensure a safe landing for the others.

"Darn it!" Mike yelled, frustratedly. "I thought for _sure_ that would work!"

"What's that thing doing now?" Reggie asked.

The others turned to look, and saw the mechanical monster just standing there. Then, it got down to the ground on it's stomach, and it's legs folded next to the chasis. The feet retracted into the legs, and were replaced with booster rockets, which were activated, and the Maniacal Mechanic's monster machine became airborne.

"Ho boy," Mike said, nervously.

"This doesn't look good," Multi said. "What do we do now?"

"Hang on," Reggie said, pulling the bazooka out of the wreckage. "Some of the weapons are still in working order. And so's the radio, chief."

"Good thinking, Johnson," Big D said. Then he turned to Multi and Coiley.

"I'll need your guitars, boys," he said.

"Check, chief," Multi said, as he and Coiley handed their boss their guitars. Big D and Reggie then hooked both of the guitars to the radio. Once they were hooked up, Big D took hold of the microphone.

"SSHQ calling the Maniacal Mechanic," he said.

"Yeah, whattaya want?" the Maniacal Mechanic asked.

"Release the girl, and give yourself up," Big D said.

"Yeah?" the Maniacal Mechanic asked. "And what if I don't?"

"Show him, Reggie," Coiley said.

"FIRE!" Reggie shouted, pulling the trigger on the bazooka. A large missile flew into the air, and it was a direct hit on his monster. It shook, and the Mechanic was knocked to the floor. He was about to counter attack, when he realized something.

"Wait a minute," he said. "He just said release the girl. That means they don't know I've got their buddy. Heh, heh. This may work to my advantage."

The Maniacal Mechanic cleared his throat, and turned on his radio.

"Okay!" he shouted. "You win! I give up! I'll release the girl!"

Suddenly, the legs of the monster machine maneuvered themselves under the body, and the machine flew straight upward, until it reached about thirty thousand feet.

"I'm getting a bad feeling about this . . . . ." Multi said. Skittles began whimpering.

"Hope you guys are good at catch!" the Maniacal Mechanic shouted over the radio. A trap door in the bottom of his machine opened, and a figure fell out of it. It was Phyllis, and she let out a blood curdling shriek as she fell. The Maniacal Mechanic laughed hysterically and flew off.

"Holy hair rollers!" Multi shouted.

"That maniac!" Big D shouted, furiously.

"Rally ho!" Coiley shouted, springing over and upward as fast as he possibly could. Just in time, too. He managed to catch Phyllis right in mid air.

"Glad you could drop in, Phyllis," he said.

"Thanks, Coiley," Phyllis said, giving the super teen a kiss on the cheek. Coiley then brought her down easy, much to the relief of everyone else.

"Good work, Coiley," Multi said, as Skittles jumped into the pretty secretary's arms and began licking her face. "Are you all right, Phyllis?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Phyllis said, cuddling the puppy. "A little shaken, stirred, and a bit dizzy, but fine otherwise."

"Come on!" Coiley shouted. "We'd better get after that crook!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, fellas!" the Maniacal Mechanic shouted. "Take a look at your monitor. I've got something to show you!"

The group looked at the monitor the Maniacal Mechanic was transmitting to. The scene shifted to his refrigeration unit. There was Fluey, shivering and shaking, nearly frozen.

"Diabolical deep freeze!" Coiley shouted. "What are we gonna do?"

"Absolutely nothing!" the Maniacal Mechanic shouted, laughing. "If you want a third of your team to remain in one piece, I suggest you keep out of my way!"

The Maniacal Mechanic cackled like the mad man he was, and flew off with the speed of a super sonic jet.


	9. Static

"Well, anybody got any bright ideas?" Reggie asked.

"Yeah," Mike said, walking over to the wreckage and digging out his trusty toolbox. Being a former boy scout, Mike strived for being prepared at all times.

"Help me gather up the pieces and we'll try to put the Impossi-Mobile back together," he said.

"Then I suggest we head back to HQ," Big D said. "This is a tough assignment and it requires a lot of hard thinking."

"But what about Fluey, chief?" Coiley asked.

"I don't know," Big D said. "But don't you two go and get any crazy ideas like he did! That'll be all I need."

"Gotcha, chief," Multi replied.

"Now go help Rogers and Johnson gather up what's left the robot," Big D continued.

"Right, Big D," Multi and Coiley said in unison, and they went to help Mike and Reggie gather the parts and rebuild their car. While they were doing that, Big D turned to Phyllis.

"How are you holding up?" he asked.

"Fine," Phyllis said, scratching Skittles behind the ears. "You don't have to worry about me. I didn't let him touch me."

"I can't help it. You know that."

"I know. Be_lieve_ me, I know! Ever since high school, whenever I had a date, you'd grill him like a swordfish, and then you'd want to practically kill him if you suspected any fooling around up at Make Out Point. Matter of fact, you _still_ do it every time I have a date! Sometimes I think you worry too much, Dad."

Big D didn't respond to that.

It took quite a few hours, but Coiley, Multi, Mike, and Reggie managed to completely restore the Impossi-Mobile to it's former self once again. That mostly came from Multi's duplicates. If he hadn't used them to help gather the parts and put the car back together, they'd never have gotten it done.

"I gotta start chargin' you guys for repairs on this thing," Mike sighed.

"Never mind, Rogers," Big D said. "Let's just get back to headquarters and plan our next move."

And with that, the group boarded the Impossi-Mobile. Coiley converted it to Impossi-Jet, and blasted off toward the SSHQ building.

The Maniacal Mechanic, in the meantime, was turning his monster around, and heading back for Megatropolis.

"I'll show them," he said. "I'll reduce that city of theirs to rubble!"

The Mechanic then turned on his surveillance monitor, and tuned in to his refrigeration unit.

"I hope you liked Megatropolis, kid!" he shouted. "'Cause I'm going back and smashing it!"

"You wouldn't!" Fluey shouted.

"Oh yes I would! And there's nothing you can do about it!"

"Ooooh . . . . you just _wait_ until I get outta here! Then you'll be sorry! I'll get out of here somehow!"

"Oh no you won't! I'll make sure of that!"

And with a maniacal cackle, the Maniacal Mechanic turned the temperature down in his unit as far as it would possibly go. Fluey gasped as he saw a thin layer of ice start to spread over the room. It would reach him in no time flat.

"H-h-h-holy ice c-c-c-c-cubes!" he shivered.

Fluey could hear the Maniacal Mechanic's laughter echoing in the freezer. The trouble was there wasn't anything he could do. He was so cold, he couldn't even move anymore. He couldn't even think straight!

"I c-c-c-can't f-f-f-f-fight it," he said, as the ice began spreading over his feet. "I j-j-j-just c-c-c-c-can't!"

Fluey closed his eyes, and slowly let himself lapse into unconsciousness as the ice completely covered him, freezing him solid. The Maniacal Mechanic laughed hysterically at the turn of events.

"Awwww, poor baby," he said, in a patronizing sort of way. "I guess his mommy never told him to bundle up when going out in the cold! Now, on to Megatropolis!"

The Maniacal Mechanic put his beast into gear, and flew straight for the city.

Coiley, Multi, and the others were all gathered in Mike's garage, watching his television while Mike was taking inventory of the car parts they managed to bring back.

"It's been nearly twenty-four hours since the attack on Megatropolis," the news anchor said. "Luckily, we haven't seen any signs of that large, destructive machine since it left the city. We are hoping that . . . . . wait a minute, folks. Something's going on. It appears that a giant . . . . . . errrrr, _thing_ is heading for . . . . . oh my heavens, it's back!"

"It's back?" Coiley repeated. "What's he doing back here?"

"I don't know, but we've _got_ to come up with a way to stop it," Multi said.

"Don't look at me," Mike said. "By the time we rebuild that robot, he'll already have the city flattened!"

"Besides, there's no telling what he'll do to Fluey if he sees us coming," Phyllis said.

"What are we gonna do, Big D?" Coiley asked.

"I don't know," Big D sighed. "I just don't know."

Coiley and Multi looked at the TV mounted on Mike's wall, and watched as the Maniacal Mechanic's beast hovered over the center of town, and lowered it's legs. Then it began lumbering around, stepping on buildings, crushing them flat. The mouth of the beast opened, and lasers began firing. People were panicking all over the streets. Coiley, Multi, and Skittles couldn't stand it!

"This must be what they mean by it's always darkest before the dawn," Multi said. "What are we going to do?"

"As much as I hate to say it," Big D said, dejectedly. "We may have no alternative. We're going to have to surrender."

"What?!" Coiley shouted. "We can't do that! There's got to be a way to stop him!"

"But how?" Mike asked. "I'll never put somethin' together in time, and all we were able to do was just dent that stupid thing!"

"We can't give up," Multi said.

"We've done everything we possibly could," Big D said. "There's nothing left to do."

"Wait a minute!" Coiley shouted, suddenly. "Look at that! He's heading right for the TV station."

The group looked at the television and noticed the mechanical monster was behaving a little oddly. It was moving a bit erratically, and it's legs were shaking a little, as if it were tired and groggy. It tried to smash the building flat, but all it succeeded in doing was making hole in the roof, and knocking the antennae off, which caused the picture on Mike's TV to black out.

"Great, we just lost the network," Mike groaned.

"Turn on the radio," Phyllis said. "They should have coverage of this thing."

"That's it!" Multi shouted suddenly. "I've got it! Come on, Coiley! We've got to get to KBLM Radio! They've got the tallest antennae in the entire city, and the most popular show on at this time of day!"

"You mean that Jerry Blabbermouth guy?" Reggie asked. "The disc jockey who's always going a mile a minute?"

"Yeah, the one they call the Alligator," Coiley said. "Great idea, Multi! Let's go!"

"Hold it a minute!" Mike shouted. "The Gator ain't on now. Everythin's bein' pre-empted with the news because of the Megatropolis Massacre."

"We know," Multi said. "But I'm positive if we can get the Gator on the air, we can stop this thing! Let's go, Coiley!"

"Rally ho!" the two Impossibles shouted, and ran out to the Impossi-Mobile in order to get to KBLM. The others watched them go.

"I hope they know what they're doing," Reggie said. "I don't see how getting Jerry Blabbermouth on the air is going to stop that maniac and his monster."

The others weren't sure what the two Impossibles had in mind, either, but the only thing they could do about it was wait and see.

Multi, Coiley, and Skittles (who had transformed into Impossi-Pup on the way) arrived at the KBLM radio station, and ran inside.

"We need to see the Gator," Coiley said to the secretary.

"He isn't on the air," the secretary replied. "His show's being pre-empted because of that metal monster downtown."

"But we really _need_ to see him!" Multi shouted. "It's an emergency. Even if he's not in the air, is he here?"

"All right, all right," the secretary said. She got up and went down the hallway. She returned a few minutes later with a young man with short brown hair and brown eyes.

"You didn't tell me it was the Impossibles," he said.

"You didn't ask," the secretary shrugged.

"Oh brother," the young man said.

"Are you Jerry Blabbermouth?" Multi asked.

"Yep, that's me," Jerry said. "What can I do for you?"

"You've got to get on the air, Mr. Blabbermouth!" Coiley shouted. "It's the only way we can stop that mechanical monster!"

"How?" Jerry asked, giving Coiley a weird look.

"We saw it by KPUT-TV on TV," Multi explained. "It began acting odd when it was near it, right before it smashed it's antennae."

"Odd how?" Jerry asked.

"Like it's signals were being messed up," Coiley said. "When we saw that, we figured the signal coming from KPUT's antennae were causing interference with the Maniacal Mechanic's machine."

"You mean like electronic devices on an airplane?" Jerry asked.

"Exactly," Multi said. "If we can get enough of a signal here, maybe it'll be strong enough to put that metal monster out of commission."

"Not a bad idea," Jerry said. "But tell me something, why do you need me to get on the air?"

"KBLM has the tallest antennae in the city," Multi said.

"We figured, since you know teenagers better than most adults do, you'd be willing to give it a go," Coiley said.

"Yeah, you're right about that," Jerry said. "If you had gone to the station manager first, he'd never buy it. Okay, let's hit it!"

And with that, Jerry led Coiley, Multi, and Skittles down the hall to the broadcasting booth.

"We may not necessarily have to get on the air, guys," Jerry said. "I think all we have to do is turn up the power on the antenna. I've never done this before, so I'm not exactly sure if this is gonna work."

"At this point, Mr. Blabbermouth we'll try anything," Multi said.

"Do me a favor," Jerry said. "Call me Gator. Everybody does."

"Okay, Gator," Coiley said. "Are you sure this is okay? We don't want to get you into trouble."

"Don't worry about it," Jerry said, pushing a switch forward. "The boss can't get _too_ mad. After all, if we don't stop that thing, there's no radio station, right?"

"Right," Multi said. Impossi-Pup barked, and raced over to the window, doing her pointer thing.

_POING!_

"What is it, girl?" Multi asked, walking over to the window. He got a good look at what Skittles was pointing at.

"Menacing mechanisms!" he shouted. "Here it comes!"

"Crank up the juice, Gator!" Coiley shouted.

"Gotcha!" Jerry shouted, and turned the power up. "We're giving it about thirty megawatts right now."

Coiley and Multi looked out the window, and watched as the Maniacal Mechanic's beast began wobbling around, bumping into buildings.

"What the heck?" he asked, as he pushed several buttons, but that didn't do him any good.

"It's working!" Coiley shouted.

"But he could still maintain control over it," Multi said. "Think you can turn up the power a little more, Gator?"

"Do fish swim?" Jerry asked, turning up the juice again.

Now, the metal monster was really beginning to stagger. The radio station antenna was causing so much interference, the Maniacal Mechanic had a hard time controlling that thing.

"Great, I'm near the radio station," he grumbled. "Better take out that antenna like I took out the one at the TV station."

Impossi-Pup growled and backed up into the hallway. But she didn't stop there. She backed all the way out to the lobby! Multi knew what was coming.

"Quick, open the window, Coiley!" he shouted.

"Gotcha!" Coiley shouted, opening the window as far as possible.

"What are you doing that for?" Jerry asked. Before either Impossible could answer, a streak of lightning blasted past, causing such a breeze, papers and music cartridges were knocked off the desk. Jerry certainly didn't see that one coming! The next thing he heard was a loud CLANG! Like something denting a piece of metal.

"What the heck was _that_?!" he shouted.

"That was Impossi-Pup," Multi said. "The fastest dog in the world."

Jerry got up from the desk and looked out the window. Impossi-Pup had charged out of the radio station, and, going at super-super-_super_ speed (she needed _plenty_ of room to build _that_ up), smashed head-on with the Maniacal Mechanic's mechanized monstrosity. Combined with the interference from the antenna, that was the one that did the trick. Thanks to the dents from the previous fight, the mechanical monster fell. Most of the controls inside were jammed, and the Maniacal Mechanic couldn't get his machine to operate.

"Rats, rats, rats, rats, rats!" he shouted. "I guess there's only one thing left to do."

The Maniacal Mechanic opened up a small door on the wall. There was a red button, and a notice over the button that said "In Case of an Emergency, Push Button."

"This oughta keep 'em busy while I make my getaway," the Maniacal Mechanic said, pushing the button. A door opened in the floor, and the Mechanic jumped through it. He ran off just as Coiley, Multi, and Jerry raced out of the radio station. They didn't notice the crook getting away.

"T minus ten seconds to self destruction," a computerized voice said from the machine. "Ten. Nine."

"Did it say what I think it said?" Multi asked.

"It did . . . . ." Coiley said, a little nervously.

"Three. Two. One," the computerized voice said. Once it reached that last number, the machine began rumbling.

"Let's get outta here!" Multi yelled, and he and the others started running for the radio station, but they didn't make it before the machine exploded to pieces.

"Hit the deck!" Jerry shouted, and the others dove to the ground, trying to avoid getting hit with debris flying all over the place due to the explosion.

And _what_ an explosion it was! It left the machine completely damaged beyond all repair. Parts of it were on fire. A couple of windows on the radio station and some from the surrounding buildings had been blown out. Miraculously, no one was hurt!

"Holy explosions!" Multi shouted.

"What a bang," Jerry commented, looking at the mess of smoldering metal, and crackling electrical wires that was once the Maniacal Mechanic's machine.

"Boy, that sure was a blast!" Coiley shouted.

"This is no time for bad puns, Coiley," Multi said. "Better call Big D. We're gonna need some back up to clear this."

"Hey, fellas, I wanted to ask you something," Jerry said. "I noticed there were only two of you when you walked into the radio station. Aren't there supposed to be three of you?"

"Hollerin' hi-fi's!" both Multi and Coiley yelled in perfect unison.

"We almost forgot about Fluey!" Coiley shouted.

"He could be anywhere in this wreck," Multi said. He immediately duplicated and began digging through the wreckage while Coiley bounced to the Impossi-Mobile to notify the chief.

Big D, Phyllis, Reggie, and Mike, along with several other SSHQ agents, as well as a news crew from KPUT-TV, arrived on the scene shortly after Coiley made the call. Immediately, the agents began going through the debris and the wreckage.

"This is almost like looking for a needle in a haystack," one of the agents said.

"And we can't find a trace of the Maniacal Mechanic, either, Big D!" another called out.

"I hope he didn't escape," Phyllis said.

"I'm not concerned over the whereabouts of that maniac," Big D said. "Locating Agent Fluid in this mess is the first priority."

Phyllis had to agree on that one. Suddenly, Impossi-Pup sniffed around, and growled. Then, she revved up, and took off like a shot. Big D and Phyllis watched her go, wondering what on earth she was doing. The two of them suddenly heard a crash, and what sounded like a chomp.

"YEOWCH!" a voice screamed.

Big D and Phyllis ran to the source of the scream and found Impossi-Pup sitting on the Maniacal Mechanic's back, with a piece of black material in her mouth. Phyllis began laughing, as she could only imagine what just happened. Big D walked over, slapped a pair of handcuffs on the Maniacal Mechanic, and gave Impossi-Pup a pat on the head.

"Excellent work, Agent Impossi-Pup," he said.

"Good girl!" Phyllis praised, as Impossi-Pup jumped into her arms for a well-deserved cuddle.

"Darn mutt," the Maniacal Mechanic grumbled as Big D pulled him to his feet. Once he was standing, Phyllis walked over to him.

"Before you turn him over to the authorities, Big D, I have something to give him," she said. "Something he richly deserves. Close your eyes."

"Oh yeah, score time!" the Maniacal Mechanic shouted, thinking he was going to enjoy this.

The minute the Maniacal Mechanic closed his eyes (and puckered up, for that matter), Phyllis gave him a good, hard punch in the face, a sock in the jaw, and a karate kick below the belt as hard as she possibly could.

"Oooohhhh!" the Maniacal Mechanic moaned. That last one _hurt_!

"Creep!" Phyllis yelled, slapping him across the chops for good measure.

Once the Mechanic was handed over to the authorities, Big D, Phyllis, and Impossi-Pup went back over to the wreckage.

"Chief, we've found him!" Multi shouted.

"Oh thank heavens!" Phyllis shouted.

"Hold that sigh of relief, Phyllis," Coiley said, as he and Multi pulled their frozen friend out of the wreckage.

Fluey was practically stuck in the position he had been in since being locked in that freezer. Frost covered the lenses of his goggles, and icicles were hanging from them, as well as his hair. The ice was beginning to melt as soon as he was pulled out, but he was unconscious.

"Is he still alive?" Mike asked. Reggie put two fingers against Fluey's neck, and waited.

"Yes, but his pulse is very weak," Reggie said.

"Contact Dr. Phelps at once," Big D ordered. Then he turned to some of the SSHQ medical staff that had arrived when the boys called for back up. "Get him to the infirmary at headquarters immediately! And use extreme caution when transporting him back to HQ!"

"Yes sir!" the medical team shouted, saluting.

Once the medical team stabilized Fluey for transport, they took off. Big D went with the medical team while Coiley, Multi, Impossi-Pup, Mike, Reggie, and Phyllis followed in the Impossi-Mobile. It wasn't a long drive back to HQ, but to Multi and Coiley, it seemed to take forever. They were completely beyond nervous. They knew what subzero temperatures could do to Fluey. They only hoped he would be okay.


	10. Recovery

It had been an hour since Fluey was sent to the infirmary at the SSHQ building. They had to put him in their special ICU area. The agency's chief medical officer, Dr. Isaac Phelps, told Big D, Coiley, Multi, and Phyllis to wait in the lobby until he and Reggie came back out. Mike had returned to his garage with what he was able to salvage from the Maniacal Mechanic's monster so he could use some of the stuff for parts, and return the computer chips to SciTech.

It was very tense in the lobby. Multi was sitting in a chair, wringing his hands nervously. Coiley was pacing back and forth (and he was driving the others crazy as he paced, since he was sproinging). Phyllis was chewing on the end of a strand of her hair (she always chewed her hair when she was nervous, ever since she was a little girl). Big D was sitting next to Multi, looking pretty stone-faced, and chewing on the stem of his pipe. It wasn't lit, because Big D knew Dr. Phelps had a fit whenever someone was smoking in the infirmary. Even though he looked calm, cool, and collected, Phyllis knew he was just as nervous as the rest of them. She knew he only chewed the stem of his pipe when it wasn't lit when he was _really_ nervous. Skittles sensed the chief's nervousness, and went from Multi's lap, over to his, looking up at him, whining. Big D said nothing, but he stroked the little puppy's back, to reassure her.

"I wish they'd hurry up in there!" Coiley shouted, bouncing back and forth across the floor. "The anticipation is driving me crazy!"

"And you're driving the rest of us crazy," Phyllis said. "Stop it, Coiley! That sproinging's driving me bananas!"

"Sorry," Coiley said and he stopped his "pacing."

"How much longer do you guys think they're going to take?" Multi asked.

"It's hard to say," Big D replied.

"I just hope they come out soon," Phyllis said.

The others nodded. It was about all they could do. Multi figured they were going end up pulling an all-nighter waiting, however, as he was thinking that, Dr. Phelps and Reggie came out of the examining room.

"Well?" Phyllis asked.

"Well, it's half and half," Dr. Phelps said. "He's completely thawed out, but his temperature's low. It was at about ninety-three when we left him. He woke up during the examination, but he was quite groggy. You can come in and see him if you like, though."

Dr. Phelps led the group into the examining room. Fluey was laying flat on his back, sound asleep, with an IV tube attached to his arm, a tube in his nose, and wires attached to his chest. He was laying on what looked like a table that had a plastic covering over it.

"What in the world is that?" Coiley asked. "It looks like an incubator."

"It _is_ an incubator," Reggie replied.

"I thought those were only used for premature babies and hatching chicks," Phyllis said.

"Generally, they are, but the medical team and I put this together quite a few years ago when we first dealt with the not so nice Mr. Ice," Dr. Phelps said. "We use it in emergency re-warming, which is what this was."

"How long will he have to be in that thing?" Multi asked.

"About twenty-four hours should do it," Dr. Phelps said. "We're positive he'll make a full recovery, since his temperature is in the mild hypothermia category, but we don't want to take him out of that incubator until we get his temperature up to at least ninety-seven degrees. And, as I stated earlier, it's at ninety-three now. The poor kid, it was at eighty-six point nine when you brought him in."

"Since there's nothing more we can do for now," Big D said, "I suggest we take our leave and let Fluid rest."

The others agreed. There really wasn't much of anything they could do, except wait.

The next day, Coiley, Multi, and Skittles went straight for the infirmary. Dr. Phelps was waiting for him.

"I had a feeling you boys would come here first," he said.

"How's Fluey?" Multi asked.

"He's doing fine," Dr. Phelps said. "He's still a bit groggy, and his temperature's still a little low, but we were able to take him out of the incubator. Come with me."

Dr. Phelps led the boys and their pup down the hall and into another room. Fluey looked like he was asleep. He was still hooked up to a couple machines, the IV was still in his arm, and he still had that tube in his nose. Coiley and Multi figured Dr. Phelps wasn't going to take chances.

"Fluey, are you awake?" Dr. Phelps asked.

"Yeah, kinda . . . ." Fluey said, opening his eyes about halfway.

"Feel up to some visitors?" Dr. Phelps asked again.

"Sure," Fluey said. His vision was a bit blurry, so he couldn't make out Multi and Coiley right away.

"Hi, Fluey," Multi said, picking up his dog so she couldn't charge for Fluey. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay," Fluey said. "A little zonked out, but I'm hanging in there."

"That's good," Coiley said. "Just in case you're wondering, we managed to catch the Maniacal Mechanic."

"Oh yeah?" Fluey asked. "How'd you do it?"

"We went to KBLM radio and turned up the power on their antenna and the thing exploded," Multi said, putting a squirming Skittles down on the bed.

"I can't believe you weren't hurt in that explosion, though," Coiley said.

"Just lucky, I guess," Fluey said, stifling a yawn. Skittles walked up to him, and started licking his face. That woke him up a little.

"Oh man, yeecchhh," Fluey said, laughing as Skittles was licking his face like an ice cream cone. "The one thing I can't stand about these puppy kisses is her breath!"

Multi and Coiley started laughing when Big D walked in.

"I trust I'm not interrupting," he said.

"Hi, chief," Fluey said.

"Looks like you're recovering nicely," Big D said.

"Yeah, Dr. Phelps said I should be back on my feet in a week or so," Fluey said.

"Good," Big D said. Then he cleared his throat. "Fluid, I need to discuss something with you. It's about what got you here in the first place."

"Uh oh . . . . ." Fluey said. "Lecture time."

"Indeed," Big D said. "I find it only fair to warn you, young man, you are now officially treading on thin ice."

"Brother, chief, didja _have_ to use that expression?"

"I told you _not_ to go after the Maniacal Mechanic and you went after him anyway. And just look at what happened!"

"I know, chief, I know, but I couldn't let him get away with kidnapping Phyllis like that. And destroying the city!"

"I realize that. However, when I give an order, I expect it to be followed. I will not tolerate disobedience from any agent. You've already disobeyed me twice. This is your only warning, Fluid. If you disobey my orders once more, just _once_ more, you're going to be suspended. Do I make myself clear?"

"Loud and, sir."

"Good."

And with that, Big D left. Multi followed him to the door and down the hall, making sure he was out of earshot.

"You'd better watch it, Fluey," Multi said. "Especially if he finds out about the letters you sent to Danalleah while she was in Transylvania."

"I know, I know," Fluey said.

"Why _did_ you go after the Maniacal Mechanic, anyway?" Coiley asked.

"Phyllis is my aunt," Fluey shrugged. "I've lost too many people in my life already, and I couldn't take the thought of losing another one."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Coiley said.

"I hate to break this up, boys," Dr. Phelps said, coming into the room. "But Fluey needs plenty of rest and quiet if he wants to make a speedy recovery."

"Right, doc," Coiley said. "See you later, Fluey."

"Bye, fellas," Fluey said, yawning again. Skittles gave him a final lick, and allowed Multi to take her out of the room. Once Multi and Coiley left, Fluey closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Multi and Coiley closed the door, and went off down the hall to the elevator, relieved that Fluey was on the road to recovery.

The End

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Don't worry, folks. All will be well by the beginning of my next story!_


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